>> good morning, washington. 6:00 on this wednesday, april 21. i am doug mcelway. >> in natasha barrett in for alison starling. time for traffic and weather every 10 minutes. let's begin with meteorologist brian van de graaff. >> outside this morning it's overcast. it will be a gray with off and on light showers. we are picking up some of them right now. let's look at them. showers are out there to the south and west. culpeper and front royal and the shenandoah valley. across gaithersburg and leesburg. poolesville, moderate showers working to our north and west. rainshowers off and on through the day. a quarter inch to 1/2 inch possible. light and gentle showers. if tomorrow we will get to near 70 degrees.

next batch of rain on the weekend. in the 60's today. >> i just spoke with newschopper 7. they will fly this morning as long as they can. that is a good thing. we will check with them in a little while. i want to talk about travel times. between richmond and baltimore it's ok. heavier volume making it into dale city, northbound 95. everything is behaving. 270 traffic, more of your neighbors hitting the road. headlights in the southbound direction there. metrorail says everything is on normal service. we will keep checking. >> new this morning, and overnight house fire heavily damaged a home in the delphi area. it started around 1:00 a.m. in the 8300 block of rambler. prince george and montgomery county firefighters spent an hour or battling it. one person was taken to the

hospital with burns. two adults and four to oden were displaced. the cause is under investigation. >> our top story this morning, more questions about the police beating in college park and the missing moments from a newly discovered surveillance tape. if the case has attracted nationwide attention. there are fresh accusations of a cover-up. mike joins us from college park with more on a story. >> good morning. lawyers for jack mckenna have subpoenaed all the video involved in the area for that evening on march 4. they receive 60 hours of video, but 90 minutes from this camera over my shoulder on knox road, that video was not provided. it was said to be missing. it has resurfaced, but not all of it. >> it seems a coincidence -- too much of a coincidence.

>> they requested all video from the early morning hours when jack mckenna was beaten by police. the video was mysteriously left out on knox road. >> there is investigating to be done. >> i'm skeptical. >> when abc 7 started asking questions, for 90 additional minutes of video mysteriously turned up. maryland state police are looking to determine whether it's merely coincidental that the campus police lieutenant in charge of the video center is married to a park police mounted officer allegedly involved in the scene on march 4. students say it is suspicious. >> if they are doing anything that's trying to conceal anything, i don't agree with it. >> i hope they're not behaving badly. if it turns out that way, it would be pretty terrible for the case. >> a tempus spokesperson explains this way. >> this server that manages the cameras automatically overwrites

at a certain point. >> jack mckenna opposing lawyers are looking through each moment of the surveillance footage, but there are still two minutes missing. we don't know exactly what a blank spot covers, but investigators want to know. live in college park, abc 7 news. >> thank you. a prince george's county teachers aide accused of attacking a 14-year-old mentally handicapped student. a spokeswoman for the families of the incident occurred during a basketball game at a middle school on april 6. a school spokeswoman tells the washington post and investigation is underway and the school's principal is on leave. later today the student's family hold a news conference to talk about the case. >> now to the fallout from the volcano eruption in iceland. flights are beginning to resume, but things are far from normal. british airports opened late yesterday after being closed several days. some restrictions are still in place in britain and other

european countries. most airlines are resuming flights to europe, but it will be weeks before all the stranded travelers get back home. >> a local priest accused of sexual abuse overseas has been removed from his ministry. the archdiocese of washington says father michael schapfel worked at the german past commission from 2004 until last month. he was removed after several women in germany accused him of sexual abuse. the archdiocese says it recently learned of the allegations and that nobody in the u.s. has made any accusations against him. a public viewing held tonight for the local principal found shot to death at his home last week. brian betts was the principal of shaw middle school at northwest d.c. the viewing will be from 6:00 to 9:00 tonight at pierce funeral home. a private funeral and burial

tomorrow. >> lawmakers returned to richmond for a one-day session to consider 100 amendments to the state budget, including cuts to social service programs, increased fines for speeding tickets, and having local government employees pay a share of their pensions. big banks are gearing up this month for battle over more of the regulation. president obama and congressional lawmakers appear close to an agreement on a bill that would regulate the financial industry. t.j. winnick has the latest. >> they're pushing financial reform for wall street. the president sounds ready for a showdown. >> if they want a fight, i'm ready. >> the white house is focused on derivatives, but between powerful players on wall street and around the world on whether certain businesses will fail or succeed. the banks insist the derivatives have turned enormous profits over the past 20 years, helping

fuel the economy and they are against heavy regulation. >> a system would grind to a halt. >> senate leaders need one republican vote on wall street reform legislation. in order to thwart a gop filibuster. also, the international monetary fund will propose that banks will need to pay fees to cover the cost of any future government bailout. >> it's going to ask them to contribute to the cost of recession in the future. >> if president obama will take his message to mistreat after speaking to wall street mall. he will trave-- = >> local leadg tribute to the life of darth the hite, the civil rights leader. > -- darth the heights. >> and a controversial new tax

plan proposed. >> and a controversial new tax plan proposed.

captioned by the national captioning institute --www.ncicap.org-- >> is its is 6:10. tabb wednesday morning. i'm in chevy chase. we are off wisconsin avenue at willard ave. we have rain showers today. bring your rain jacket this

morning. let's look at live super doppler 7 radar. the areas in green are patches of rain, especially in the shenandoah valley, martinsburg south, down 81 towards harrisonburg. even in fauquier county, around leesburg, loudoun county, towards the potomac, and parts of montgomery county. we will see light rain off and on throughout the day. a to a half-inch. tomorrow, sunshine, near 70. 60 degrees today. >> right now we are having a good run as far as traffic on i- 95 between richmond and baltimore. let me take you to newschopper 7. they are flying as much as they can before the weather pattern arrives. this is the beltway near gallows road. plenty of headlights at springfield. no accidents on the way to

tysons. we look good on the dulles greenway and the dulles toll road. i will take you to the geico camera. 95 headlights out of newington to get to springfield, normal volume out of woodbridge. 270 looks quiet north and southbound at 495. >> funeral arrangements are pending for civil rights icon dorothy heights. she died yesterday at tallwood university highospital after long illness. she is being remembered for her dedication to quality. >> she stood for dignity. she stood for rights. she stood for bringing out the best in people. she stood as a leader among leaders. >> she was also a trained social worker and longtime d.c.

resident. jim webb has co-sponsored a resolution honoring her. he says, "as a civil rights activist and conconfidante to many american leaders, her leadership will leave an indelible mark." >> 53 degrees in roslyn. >> taking aim at america's sodium intake. is government intervention the best idea? >> a gas tax hike in the district, what could it mean for maryland and virginia drivers?

♪ my subaru saved my life. i won't ever forget that. love. it's what makes a subaru, a subaru. >> you are watching abc7's good morning washington. with doug mcelway, alison starling, meteorologist brian van de graaff, and lisa baden with traffic. this is good morning washington, on your side. >> in our top stories, the new

video has surfaced from the night at university of maryland student was beaten in college park. the video from the university of maryland offers a clear view of the area where jack mckenna was beaten. right now officials are investigating a two-minute gap in the video. several police officers have been suspended over the incident. a senior administration official says president obama has begun talking with potential supreme court nominees. that nominee would replace retiring justice john paul stevens. if this morning the president will talk about nominees with republicans and democratic leaders in the senate. airplanes are starting to occupy the skies over europe after a massive flight disruption due to the volcanic ash from iceland. officials say it still could be weeks before all stranded travelers get back home. the disruptions have cost the airline industry nearly $2

billion. but there's a controversial new proposal in d.c. council member john graeme wants to boost taxes again, this time a gas tax. he wants to increase it by a dime to help pay for men drmetr. council member jim graham. >> many people are not happy about this idea, mainly because they're already paying so much for gas. if you look behind me, on m street by the brigit's well over $3 for regular unleaded. -- by the bridge. the gas tax in the district is 23.5 cents a gallon. he wants this to go up to 33.5 cents. that would put the district in ninth place among highest gas taxes nationwide. what is the reason behind this? he says we need to find a more permanent source for metro.

the main reason is the transit agency is facing a $189 million budget shortfall. he wants to close that gap. we spoke with a limo driver earlier this morning. this is what he had to say about the proposal. >> i think it needs to go back the other way. we don't need this in a recession. we need to help people. >> this tax would only take effect if other jurisdictions, including maryland and virginia, were to impose the same tax as well. similar bills have been proposed in the commonwealth, but have died in the house of delegates. many lawmakers believe this proposal will be another long shot. many drivers feel the same way. kathy park reporting from northwest. >> time for traffic and weather every 10 minutes. >> let's check with lisa baden for the latest on the roads. >> moving nicely.

normal volume. metrorail reporting they are on normal service. let's jump to newschopper 7 flying over the dulles toll road near tyson. now to brian van de graaff. >> temperatures outside, starting off milder than the last couple mornings. this morning we are in the 50's- degree range. 51 in waldorf, at hutchison elementary school, low 50's. heavy packages of rain to our south in culpeper and heavy rain south of front royal. we will have light rain this afternoon. showers will continue to come down. maybe a quarter inch to a half- inch before it's over. showers in washington and fauquier county and prince william county. gentle rain sliding to our

south. tomorrow, sunshine. a disturbance tomorrow afternoon could cause an isolated storm. tonight there could be a little fog as the rain wraps up. near 70 tomorrow and friday. looks pretty good for the first half saturday. rainshowers saturday afternoon. off and on rain through sunday and monday. >> we need that. thank you. apple earnings soar. if you thought michael jackson's life was a circus, with until you see what's next. vinita nair has those stories and more. >> we begin your "money scope report." with shares of apple soaring to new heights. the stock skyrocket to a new record in late trading after reporting allowed earnings. the company said its bottom line nearly doubled from a year ago, fuelled by blockbuster iphone sales. apple sold nearly 9 million of them in the first three months

of the year, a record for any quarter, more than double the number from a year ago. shares of yahoo! are set to fly today. its revenue grew last quarter for the first time in a year- and-a-half. but still short of expectations. yahoo! is reaping the benefits of its internet search and advertising relationship with microsoft. united airlines and continental have started merger talks. it would create the world's largest airline, topping delta. united had been in talks with u.s. airways, but appears to be more interested in continental. any deal would mean fewer seats and higher prices for passengers. target is making a big bet on its credit card. it will stop issuing visa credit cards and only offered in house cards. customers using its store cards spent more than those with a visa card. this takes effect next week. it will not affect current target visa cardholders. michael jackson's music is going back on tour.

is a state assigned a deal with surplus ocirque soleil. that company and is a state will own 50% of the project. coming up on "good morning america", an eye opening study on what you can do to avoid raising your risk of health problems. i'm vinita nair. >> 6:21. we are laughing at that by eating an ice-cream cone. coming up next -- >> too much sugar. and the government says maybe there's too much salt in our diet. the fda is taking a close look. and today on "oprah," some of the world's most glamorous dream jobs, 4:00 on abc 7.

>> the click administration of tamiflu saves the lives of many women infected with swine flu. 56 pregnant women died from the h1n1 virus last year. only one of the women who died was given the medicine in the very first two days she was sick, approving the medications effectiveness. too much salt is hidden in

americans' food. >> that is what the head of the fda believes. americans eat more than twice the recommended amount of sodium on average. most of its hidden in processed foods. the fda will work with manufacturers to get them to voluntarily reduce the amount of salt in prepared foods. >> we recognize that sodium in the american diet is a very serious problem. we as a nation need to address this. >> if this week the institute of medicine urged the fda to take action. reducing salt in the food supply needs to be a gradual process. she says consumer tastes need to be slowly adapting to a lower- level salt. manufacturers need time to remake their recipes. >> it will be a very special day for some sports champions. several olympians' and paralypians will join michelle obama for appearance at the

river terrace elementary school in northeast d.c. as part of the first lady's let's move initiative and is designed to promote the need for kids to get at least 60 minutes of exercise every day. >> that will help with the sodium in the diet as well. and ice cream cones and that stuff. we have another half-hour or good morning washington ahead. >> the ash cloud is thinning out and airplanes are back in the year in europe, but is its too soon to try? >> surveillance video footage has resurfaced after going missing, but not all of it has recovered. that's coming up as good morning washington continues. >> live in the weather center, we have a little rain on the way, light rain. will that stick around for the rest of the week or will we have sunshine? rest of the week or will we have sunshine?

>> live and in hd, this is good morning washington, on your side.

>> still ahead this half-hour, a beating caught on camera might have led to a cover-up. >good morning, washington. it's about 6:30 on this wednesday, april 21. i'm natasha barrett. >> i am doug mcelway. we need some rain this time of year. >> hopefully, it will rinse off the iandpollen. there-- the pollen. temperatures near 50 this morning. highs in the low 60's. up to a half-inch of rain expected today. >> i am excited because

newschopper 7 was able to go up before the weather pattern arrived. i will show you what they have. at the beltway in springfield looks good. route 7 between the toll road, that's quiet. imported on the dulles toll road. on 66 on their way to manassas. eastbound traffic is on the right side. centreville and toward the beltway, pockets of heavy traffic. now to the news desk. >> new allegations of a cover-up inside a prince george's county police department. it stems from the video of a student beaten after basketball game. mike is live from college park telling us why a new tapes missing elmets are raising new questions. > -- missing moments. >> it was captured by surveillance camera on knox road a block away from route 1 in

college park. it has a clear view of the spot where the student was beaten by prince george's county police. it's the same vantage point where in a distorted recorded images of the police encounter with jack mckenna. it covers midnight to 1:30 a.m. on march 4 when the beating reportedly happened. jack mckenna's lawyers subpoenaed the video on march 9, five days afterwards. agency provided 16 hours from several cameras except for this one. a university s spokesperson says the system automatically overwrites and that is what happened. we don't know what the two minutes covered, but state investigators want to know. state investigators are looking into the incidecoincidence thate police officer in charge of the

video center at the university is married to one of the mounted officers involved in the beating incident. >> there was an incident during a basketball game at a middle school on april 6 where a handicapped student was attacked. the school's principal is on leave. the student's family will talk about the case later today. >> a local priest accused of sexual abuse overseas has been removed from his ministry. father michael schapfel worked at the german pastoral mission until last month. he was removed after several women in germany accused him of sexual abuse. the washington archdiocese learned of the allegations recently and says no one in the u.s. has made allegations against him. >> adell 5 family is looking for new place to live after an overnight house fire heavily damaged their home. -- delphi family.

if it happened in the 8300 block of rambler drive. one person was taken to the hospital with burns. the cause of the fire is under investigation. >> planes started landing and taking off from london posey heathrow airport. 95,000 flights have been canceled because of the house land volcano -- the icelandic volcano. now more from london. >> touchdown at heathrow airport. this is the first year plane that arrived last night from vancouver. there were smiles and cheers as the announcement to open up the skies came last night. the decision was made after meeting between the british government and the aviation authority. >> the airlines will be able to schedule their flights accordingly. >> they analyzed the data after

test flights. they concluded their planes could fly through low density volcanic ash. but this volcano is dynamic and could spew more ash. >> if we decide we should suspend flights again, we will do so. >> the cloud continues to move westward over the last six and appears to be thinning out. -- over the atlantic. officials warn it could take weeks to clear the backlog of passengers. >> a public viewing will be held tonight for the d.c. principal found shot to death at his house last week. police are searching for his killer. brian betts was the principal of shaw middle school in northwest. the viewing is 6:00 to 9:00 tonight at pierce funeral home on center street in manassas. a private funeral tomorrow.

an emotional tribute to the frostburg state university student shot and killed last weekend. more than 2000 people held a vigil at the university last night in memory of brandon carroll. the 20-year-old student was a basketball player and was from waldorf. >> he had the most positive outlook on life. [unintelligible] >> we will grieve together. >> another frostburg student, 21-year-old tyrone hall is charged with the murder and wounding another studenth, another. all as its-- hall says it was in self-defense. >> d.c. residents will have to wait longer to get a vote in congress, if at all. they will not pick up the bill this year because an amendment would have eliminated the tough gun-control law. it would have added a seat for

utah and given d.c. a seat. the administration is gearing up for fight with wall street. >> and we will tell you about the treasury's latest cosmetic changes for benjamin franklin. >> another check on traffic and

>> i'm from the national zoo. come down and visit. good morning, washington. >> just about 6:40 a.m. on this wednesday morning. welcome back. meteorologist adam caskey in chevy chase. it's not a bad day regarding the temperature. gray skies. 53 degrees in chevy chase. we will talk about the forecast in a moment. first, a load to the kids of the glen forest elementary school in falls church. i had a pleasure speaking with them yesterday. they had good questions. we talked a lot about the weather. there is their mascot, the eagle.

a good experience with the kids. thanks for having me. we have gray skies and a few scattered showers. moving from the southwest to the northeast. in the shenandoah valley, moving into fauquier county and crossing the potomac from leesburg and urbana. light rain throughout the day today. a gentle rain. that is the best way to describe this. high temperatures near 60. tomorrow, sunshine, warming up near 70'. don't water the plants because you'll be in stores this weekend. >> thank you. 270, let's see, wet pavement already. southbound at falls road, plenty of headlights, but moving smoothly. in virginia with newschopper 7, they have been looking at the beltway between braddock road

and the leesburg pike. a little heavy between braddock road and gallows. normal volume out of manassas on 66. 95, delays out of dale city getting to route no. 1. in and out of baltimore's quiet. >> thank you. the $100 bill is about to get a makeover. today the treasury will outline a new design. the government is redesigning the currency to stay ahead of counterfeiters. the bill features new security measures and it will be a little while before it goes into circulation. >> i wish i could have more of those. >> the counterfeiters do as well. >> its about 53 degrees outside, 6:42. >> a controversial gas tax plan in d.c., drivers might have to foot the bill for metro. >> a check on the top stories first. you'

>> you are watching abc 7's good morning washington. with doug mcelway, alison starling, meteorologist brian van de graaff, and lisa baden with traffic. this is good morning washington, on your side. >> in our top stories, a new video has surfaced from the night to university of maryland student was beaten college park. the video from the university offers a clear view of the area where jack mckenna was beaten. officials are investigating a two-minute gap in the video. prince george's county police officers have been suspended over the incident. airplanes are starting to

occupy the skies over europe after massive disruptions from the ash cloud from the erupting volcano in iceland, but officials say it will be weeks before all the stranded travelers worldwide can be brought home. it has cost the airline industry $2 billion. >> congress will take a closer look at metro today. the house oversight and government reform committee will hold a hearing on metro safety, service, and stability. lawmakers will look at metro's budget crunch as well as efforts to improve safety after a series of accidents over the past year. pope benedict xvi has promised that the catholic church will take action to the clergy sex abuse scandal. the comments during his weekly address where the first since the scandal broke last month. this past weekend she had a private meeting with 8 maltese menon who say they were abused

by priests -- 8 maltese men. >> president obama is gearing up for fight. >> it could beat a wrinkle in the white house's plan. you have so many insiders connected to this democratic world. what kind of impact will this makes? >> the world is different for the democratic party than it was 10 years ago. greg anne cracraig left the administration and is now a top consultant for goldman sachs. dick gephardt was a champion of labor. now he's an adviser to goldman sachs. it shows so many democrats have gravitated toward representing corporate america or getting money from them as elected

officials. it makes it complicated when democrats want to say republicans do the bidding of big businesses, because both parties do that. >> the charges the sec has filed against goldman sachs, a republican representative is asking the sec for documents about whether there was political motivation involved. >> they are saying it's a little fishy, bringing this lawsuit at a time when you are trying to get momentum for passing this big financial regulation bill. i think that will be litigated. we will know soon enough whether there are teeth to those charges. there's real momentum to get something done. the politics are a little different on financial regulation than they were on health care. republicans are saying maybe we can compromise, maybe we can have new regulation on the financial sector, may be new disclosure. they feel that's what the

american people want. they feel people are still very angry about the bailout last year when those big companies were on the brink of economic collapse. republicans sense that people want those companies to pay. they could pass a bill relatively soon. >> working together in washington, imagine that. thank you, jim. >> time for traffic and weather every 10 minutes. >> looking across the city, looks pretty nice. that's a live shot from the rooftop camera. the sun is rising in the distance. a few sprinkles at reagan national and off to the west. 53 degrees downtown, 52 in suitland, 47 in ashburn, 46 in winchester. the rain showers are off to the north and to the northwest, towards eastern loudoun county, western montgomery county. showers from the plains.

western prince william county fauquier county and through clark county and in the shenandoah valley. there's light rain that will continue to work from the west southwest across. a little storm system will slide to our south for the afternoon and bring light rain with it. if nothing heavy. a quarter inch to 1/2 inch before it's over. low 70's for the temperatures -- low 60's. we cannot rule out a stray shower tomorrow with highs in the 70's. showers off and on through the first half of next week, but a break this thursday. >> slippery pavement outside means potential for accidents, but nothing disastrous right now. let's go to the geico camera.

270 southbound, delays out of germantown and frederick. let's take you to the other side of town. over the dulles toll road, no problems on route 7 between sterling and tyson. metrorail is on normal service. we will be back with more

>> the son of michael douglas sent to prison for years, on drugs. "good morning america" on abc this morning. >> a new plan has drivers footing the bill for metro. >> kathy park is live in northwest with details. >> good morning. many people are not happy about this latest proposal, because this would mean paying more at the pump. they say it's already bad enough they paid $3 a gallon across the region. under the new proposal introduced by jim graham, the tax hike on gas would go up from 23.5 cents up to 33.5 cents a gallon, bringing the district to ninth place among the highest gas taxes nationwide. he says the reason is metro needs to find a more permanent funding sources and this would

do that. the other reason is the extra money that would be coming in would help close the $189 million budget shortfall the transit agency is facing for the upcoming fiscal year. other jurisdictions including maryland and virginia also have to be on board and will have to enact the same tax hike. lawmakers are speaking out, saying they're not happy with this. they say they feel it would be a long shot. a similar bill was proposed in the commonwealth years ago and died in the house of delegates. kathy park reporting from northwest. >> a last look at traffic and weather together. >> not lisa baden. >> on the dulles greenway eastbound there was a crash before the toll plaza getting into residetin. route 1 is quiet. normal delays in woodbridge as well as 95 getting into springfield.

the rain has arrived. brian van de graaff? >> we have showers moving in. moving from the west southwest. we will see some light showers this afternoon, temperatures in the low 60's. maybe a quarter inch to 1/2 dench before it's done later this evening. we clear out tomorrow with highs near 70. friday looks good. clouds on saturday with afternoon showers. rain off and on through monday. maybe a couple inches over the weekend. not very drastic temperatures. >> as long as it's a gentle. >> thanks for watching this morning. an update at 7:20. >> "good morning america" comes up next. have a good morning. we will see you at noon.